Coskata Inc. grows many microbes in how, in its efforts to find natural bacteria that optimally produce ethanol. These little guys are the key to Coskata's new method. Its current generation features high efficiency, live in-gas in an aerobic environment, and reproduce naturally.

GM and Coskata partner to bring transform the way ethanol is mass produced

At the General Motors section of the North American International Auto Show (NAIAS) at Detroit, the biggest news wasn't cars -- it was fuel. GM unveiled and detailed its efforts to take Ethanol from a impractical technology into a viable alternative energy strategy. Not too long ago it looked like the end of ethanol fuel, with advent of a hungry microbial hydrogen production research effort, which promised better efficiency than current ethanol production.

Ethanol is down, but certainly not out. An advanced new approach, dubbed "cellulosic ethanol production," developed by Coskata Inc. located in Warrenville, Illinois promises to make ethanol cheaply and efficiently from virtually anything organic-based. The long list of possible sources include used tires, crop waste, sewage, household kitchen waste, yard waste etc.

GM, inspired by Coskata's innovation, announced a major partnership with firm last night. GM reportedly looked into as many as sixteen ethanol startups offering different processes, and picked Coskata as the winner. GM invested a small amount of equity to cement the relationship, and both firms are aggressively moving ahead to bring the technology to the market.

In an interview with GM's Vice Chairman of Product Development, Bob Lutz, DailyTech was provided exclusive insight into exactly how this process works. Lutz, in response to DailyTech's question, began by stating, "All the other companies use enzymes, which are incredibly expensive. This has been a major stumbling block."

Lutz went on to detail how instead of enzymes -- which are tricky to mass produce and prohibitively expensive -- GM turned to nature. GM's approach starts rather traditionally by putting the various organic waste materials, such as tires, crops, crop waste and yard waste into a grinder. The remaining powder is then exposed to plasma, which causes the organic powder to ferment, releasing carbon-chain gas. It rises into the air where natural anaerobic bacteria eats the gas molecules and excretes ethanol and water vapor. This mixture then rises, and travels through a series of tubes with a separating membrane. The yield is pure water and pure ethanol.

"The bacteria are from nature so no patent was needed. And they reproduce on their own," Lutz explained, excitedly. The process, Lutz elaborated, is a down-to earth approach that does not use designer organisms or chemicals. Further it eliminates many steps in traditional or enzymatic processing, including the need for a centrifuge or still.

The process trumps traditional production in efficiency. Less than a third as much water is needed to produce a gallon of ethanol, which makes the process more affordable and easier to implement. Further an analysis of the process conducted at Argone National Laboratory reveals that for every unit of energy Coskata uses, it creates approximately 7.7 times as much energy, a ratio well above current tradition ethanol production.

Lutz emphasizes the importance of reducing reliance on foreign energy via ethanol fuel. He also explained that the move will take GM and other auto makers "out of the firing line" of accusations that they contribute to everything from "out-of-control global warming, to funding terrorism."

GM plans to aggressively fund Coskata and deploy the technology. While many alternative energy research technologies languish in the development phase, GM announced that a pilot plant will begin producing fuel before the close of 2008. By 2011 a full scale plant will come online, capable of producing 50 to 100 million gallons of ethanol a year. Such a plant would almost amount to 1% of the world's total ethanol production, including ethanol used for industrial sources.

The price per gallon to produce the fuel is approximately $1 per gallon, but Lutz stated that with Coskata profits, shipping, taxes, storage, and a retailer's cut, the fuel would likely raise the price to a still very affordable $2 per gallon.

Lutz said that while such a fuel would be very attractive to the consumer, the big hold up is the oil companies. He points out that while GM has sold 6 million flex-fuel vehicles in the U.S. capable of using ethanol, less than 1% of pumps in the U.S. are ethanol-equipped.

Will GM's new advanced ethanol process win out over hydrogen fuel cells and other efforts? With promises of mass production by the end of the year, and $2 per gallon fuel costs that don't dip into American agriculture, Coskata and GM might end up in the spotlight a lot in 2008.

"We can't expect users to use common sense. That would eliminate the need for all sorts of legislation, committees, oversight and lawyers." -- Christopher Jennings